Mint Chicken

A few months back, my family and I went for shopping and stayed out all day, I mean it was almost 15 hours! We had left right after breakfast. 7 hours into shopping and we were starving. We started looking around the streets of Riyadh for an Indian restaurant.
You might be wondering why specifically Indian cuisine? I mean with all the multitudes of option obviously available why not try something new. Well because  my parents being desi and all think that there's no food better than desi food.
Anyhow, after almost an hour we finally ended up in front of a South Indian restaurant. Upon entering itself, the mouth-watering and delicious smell of fresh mint hit me, and just like that I was almost salivating! My very first concern was that delicious smell and on asking I  was told is Mint Chicken, a dish I was unfamiliar with but was highly popular with their regular customers. Being me, I ordered it without a second thought. 15 minutes after waiting patiently, it finally arrived and I finally got to feast my eyes on the beauty that was this dish. Brown, juicy & tender looking chicken in front of me, roasted to true perfection with mint and various other herbs. 'Twas beautiful, I tell you. It tasted like what Tandoori Chicken combined with Green Chutney tastes like. But this time the Green Chutney was in the chicken instead of being on the side as a dip.

Fast forward to last week when my brain finally got energized - after midnight that is - I decided to recreate my favorite roasted chicken. I roughly thought of what ingredients should be in it and luckily all of them were available at home. After mixing all the spices, I marinated the chicken for about 6 hours as sleep took over me at 3 a.m and I woke up around 9 am. The chicken was ready right in time for lunch, after being roasted for almost an hour. It wasn't exactly like the one I had at the restaurant but somewhat close.

Alhumdulillah this was another one of my food experiment that turned out great! 

Time for you to gather all your spices and learn how to make this Green Chicken I've been ranting about.

Ingredients:

• Chicken whole 900 grams
• Yogurt 1/2 cup
• Ginger paste 1 tsp
• Garlic paste 1 tsp 
• Coriander powder 1 tsp 
• Black pepper powder 2 tsp
• Whole black pepper 1 tsp
• Cloves 1/2 tsp
• Green chillis chopped 1/4 cup (depending on how spicy you want it)
• Coriander half bunch 
• Mint leaves 1/2 cup
• Bay leaves 
• Lemon juice 2 tbsp 
• Salt to taste

Directions:

• Rub chicken with salt. 
• Add yogurt, ginger & garlic paste, Coriander powder, green chillis, half bunch Coriander, 1/4 cup mint leaves, lemon juice and salt to a blender and make a paste.
• Now add the paste to the chicken. Make sure you get it under the skin and inside aswell.
• Marinate it for 3-4 hours or overnight.
• Remove the chicken from the fridge atleast 30 minutes before putting it in the oven. 
• Stuff it with the bay leaves, cloves, black pepper and the remaining mint leaves & Coriander, this will give your chicken a great aroma of fresh herbs and spices.
• Pre-heat the oven to 180°c. 
• Now put in the Chicken and roast it for 1 hour 15 minutes. The time might vary depending on your stove settings. 
• When the chicken is golden brown remove it and let it cool down for 10 mins before cutting. 
• Serve with your favorite chicken sauce and enjoy! 

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A Must Have Beauty Oil

Cactus oil - also known as Prickly Pear Seed Oil and Barbary Fig Oil - is not really a popular product among us. Infact, I didn't even know it existed, until last week when I came across it in the supermarket. 

The benefits of the oil were still unknown to me, but I liked how it smelled so I bought it. After coming home I did some research on it, turns out it is alot like Argan oil. Cactus oil contains the natural antioxidant Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Omega 6, Omega 9 and amino acids.
Vitamin E helps repair and build tissue. It helps in reducing inflammation and repair damage to the follicles which encourages hair growth. Omega 6 stimulates skin cell turnover. Amino acids stimulates collagen production, prevent hair loss,  boost up the hair growth, maintains a healthyj pH balance and hydrates your scalp. This saves you from having a dry flaky scalp. Where as Omega 9 balances sebum production. 

Cactus oil is not only good for your hair but your skin too! Using it regularly on your face will tighten your pores, get rid of acne & acne scars, prevent breakouts & wrinkles as it is anti-aging. The oil also evens out uneven skin pigmentation. Vitamin K will brighten your under-eye circles & dark spots.

Prickly Pear seed oil is a great alternative for Argan Oil, a must have beauty oil for your nightstand.

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The Easiest Gulab Jamun Recipe

Gulab Jamun, weakness of almost all desis. No shadi/dawat is complete without it. A picture of golden brown juicy jamuns enough to make you start craving it.

This recipe of Gulab jamuns is made to satisfy your cravings and taste buds in every way. As it's easy, takes hardly an hour to make and  doesn't even need more than 6 ingredients! So make these Jamuns from scratch and brag about it to everyone. 

Ingredients:

For the Gulab Jamuns:

• Khoya 2 cups
• Flour 4 tbsp
• Cardamom powder 1 tsp 
• Baking powder 1 tsp
• Water as required
• Oil for frying

For the syrup:

• Sugar 1 cup
• Water 11/2 cup 

You can also make your own Khoya easily at home with just milk powder and cream.

Instructions:

• Combine sugar and water for the syrup. Heat the water until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and let it cool down.
• In a bowl add Khoya, Cardamom powder, baking powder and flour. Add water little by little until the mixture turns into a dough.
• Heat the oil on medium-low flame.
• While the oil is heating, divide the dough in 10-15 equal portions and roll it into smooth balls.
• Now fry the balls until they turn golden brown and then add them directly into the sugar syrup.

Enjoy and do share how your Gulab Jamuna turned out. 

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FALSE ADVERTISING!!

Hello beautiful people! Hope everyone's good and enjoying the end of winter. I personally don't want winter to end cause I love wearing oversized comfy sweaters, sitting in a blanket and binge watching tv shows on Netflix while sipping on hot chocolate. Surely going to miss all this. 

Today I will be reviewing two new liquid Lipsticks that broke my heart. My friend recently gifted me 2 gorgeous shades of Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid Lipsticks, which I was really psyched about...that is until I put them on and ended up waiting  almost 20 minutes for them to dry. Not only that, despite the name of the product itself claiming it is matte, the Lipstick doesn't even dry down to be anywhere near matte but instead it's more of a highly pigmented and shiny lip. Maybelline should be ashamed of false advertising this product. This is especially heartbreaking as the colours are so mesmerizing, the scent is just incredible and the packaging is top-notch.

 Other than these let downs, there are a few good pointers too. You get a lot of product (0.26 oz) for the price you pay which is only $8! The formula would have been perfect for a lip gloss as it is very creamy, glides on smoothly and not sticky at all but it smudges easily.

Now moving on to the colours, I would personally have loved to wear Fuchsia Ecstasy 'cause the colour is so eye-catching and different, something you don't find that easily. It goes so well with my brown skin tone. Where as the other colour, Nude Thrill, is too light for me.

Fuchsia Ecstasy

Nude Thrill

Lastly, I wouldn't recommend this to  anyone who's not a fan of lip gloss or smudgy lipsticks. 

Till next time, bubye. 

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